Baylor Basketball

The Baylor Bears moved one major step closer to a long-awaited matchup with undefeated Gonzaga on Saturday with a 78-59 Final Four beatdown of No. 2 Houston. 

Before the No. 1 Bulldogs even took the court against No. 11 UCLA in the second semifinal game, No. 1 Bears guard Jared Butler wasn't sweating the outcome—even if that means facing the Zags for a national championship. 

"I think we match up pretty well," Butler said after knocking off the Cougars. "They got pros, we got pros. They win a lot of games, we win a lot of games. I think we match up well."

Gonzaga and Baylor were scheduled to meet at Bankers Life Fieldhouse when they were ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, back in early December but was canceled after members of the Bulldogs' traveling tested positive for COVID-19. 

Now nearly five months later and both teams are back in Indianapolis with a significantly larger stage. 

In order for the two teams to face off for a title, Gonzaga will have to get past a No. 11 UCLA team that has taken down Michigan, Alabama, Abilene Christian and BYU—not to mention Michigan State in the First Four. 

It won't be an easy task, but the 26-0 Bulldogs are more than up for it.

Should the Zags pull off another win, college basketball will have its two best teams competing for a title in earnest. 

Butler has zero concerns if it comes to that. Between him, MaCio Teague and Davion Mitchell on Baylor, as well as Gonzaga's Drew Timme, Corey Kispert, Joel Ayayi and Jalen Suggs, there's more than enough NBA talent on the floor to field a pro team. 

College basketball fans will automatically count the title game as a win before it even tips off should Gonzaga beat UCLA on Saturday. 

MaCio Teague put the perfect cherry on top of Baylor's regular season. 

The senior guard was on fire from deep Sunday, hitting 10 threes (on 12 attempts) in Baylor's 88-73 win over Texas Tech. It's hard to top a 35-point performance on Senior Day. 

Jared Butler added 18 points and five assists for the Bears, while Davion Mitchell went for 17 points and seven assists. Baylor also held Mac McClung to just seven points on 3-of-9 shooting.

The conference champions will head into the Big 12 tournament with a 21-1 record. They'll be in action next on Thursday, March 11, at 2:30 p.m. ET, when they'll face the winner of TCU vs. Kansas State.

No. 3 Baylor had an excellent week, with wins over West Virginia in overtime and Cade Cunningham's Oklahoma State. The Bears also clinched their first conference title since 1950 and finished the regular season undefeated at home. 

Few performances this season were better than what they offered Sunday, as Baylor finished an impressive 15-of-24 from three as a team and had four starters finish with double-digit points. The Bears have made it quite clear that they are a legitimate national championship contender this season. 

As for Texas Tech, the No. 18 Red Raiders will close the regular season at 17-9. Their first game in the Big 12 tournament is to be determined.

As the buzzer sounded on Baylor's 83-69 victory over No. 6 Texas to begin February, only top-ranked Gonzaga could be considered an equally impressive team. Baylor improved to 17-0 and hadn't played a game within eight points all season.

But then on Feb. 4—and for the second time in 2020-21—Baylor hit pause due to coronavirus health and safety protocols.

This time around, though, the return hasn't been so smooth.

Following a three-week layoff that included six postponed games, Scott Drew's team hosted Iowa State on Feb. 23. Baylor trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half and needed a last-minute surge to pull away from the Cyclones, who entered with zero Big 12 wins and a 2-16 mark overall.

Baylor still set a program record with an 18-0 start to the year, but the dim shine of the accomplishment soon disappeared. Kansas ruined the Bears' undefeated season on Saturday.

The main takeaways from the two games are Baylor struggled with three-point shots and interior play. One hadn't been a problem in 2020-21, and the other had quietly been a complication for the Bears.

First, look at the shooters.

Baylor has a bunch of quality long-range options. Along with Presbyterian transfer Adam Flagler, star guards Jared Butler and Davion Mitchell attempt four-plus triples per game and convert 42.5 percent or better. MaCio Teague is at 34.8 percent, and Matthew Mayer shoots a lower volume at 45.0 percent. It's no surprise the Bears rank No. 1 nationally in three-point percentage.

In the last two games, however, they posted a 14-of-51 mark combined. Most notably, the trio of Butler, Mitchell and Flagler finished 3-of-17 from outside in the loss to Kansas.

Throw in a dismal 21-of-37 combined performance at the free-throw line—where Baylor ranks an unsightly 233rd anyway—and the offense has endured two disastrous days recently.

When shots aren't falling, winning inside is increasingly important.

Baylor is a great defensive team overall but is strongest on the perimeter with Mitchell, Mark Vital and Butler. Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua—who didn't play against Iowa State and was limited opposite Kansas—Flo Thamba and Mayer are the only players in the rotation who stand taller than 6'5".

Opponents shoot 64.5 percent at the rim, per Hoop-Math.com, which is the nation's 42nd-worst mark. Plus, the Bears rank 287th in offensive rebound rate allowed. That showed up in a major way when Kansas grabbed 43 missed shots to Baylor's 25, and Jayhawks forward David McCormack scored 20 points.

Again, hot shooting can overcome that vulnerability. But the first part hasn't yet emerged in the initial post-pause games.

By no means is this reason to panic. Even as the coronavirus concerns eased, the major snowstorms in Texas also prevented the team from gathering, too.

"A lot of people go on pauses, but they might not have people that have COVID," Drew said, per ESPN's Jeff Borzello. "And if that's the case, they're working out every day, they don't have snowstorms, they're practicing. Their comeback time is a lot quicker than other teams."

Not every return can be like that of Michigan, which jumped from a respected team to a prime championship contender after its pause. The Wolverines had a head-turning defensive effort to beat Wisconsin before edging Rutgers, holding off No. 4 Ohio State and blitzing No. 9 Iowa.

Truly, it's possible the Bears return to their previous form as their conditioning improves. It isn't exactly breaking news that fatigue can have a large impact on shooters and rebounding.

The challenge facing Baylor is a difficult six-day stretch, which includes a trip to No. 6 West Virginia and home games against No. 17 Oklahoma State and No. 18 Texas Tech. Should the Bears handle that physical strain, it'll be a hard-earned recovery.

But if Baylor has a couple of rough games, the concern level will rise. The blueprint for an upset may be perfectly clear, too.

The Bears deserve their likely No. 1 seed in March Madness and are a definite championship threat at their best. Before the NCAA tournament begins, though, it would be reassuring to see a reminder of why Baylor had fully earned that billing.

Statistics courtesy of KenPom.com or Sports-Reference.com, unless otherwise noted. Follow Bleacher Report writer David Kenyon on Twitter @Kenyon19_BR.

After his team suffered its first loss of the season Saturday night, Baylor coach Scott Drew mentioned the squad's long layoff because of COVID-19 protocols.

"We were the No. 1 shooting team in the country, and we'll get back to that," Drew said. "But even Superman has kryptonite. And I guess COVID protocols is ours."

The Bears went 6-of-26 from three and made just 34.8 percent of their shots overall in the 71-58 loss. Leading scorer Jared Butler was held to just five points on 2-of-9 shooting.

For the season, the Bears are shooting 42.1 percent from three—still the best in the nation—while making 49.5 percent of their shots from the field.

Baylor won 17 straight to open the campaign, but COVID-19 protocols paused their season in early February. The team went 21 days between games before returning to the court last Tuesday for a narrow win against Iowa State.

Versus Kansas, Baylor was outscored by 10 in the second half, and Drew noted:

"Anyone that's had COVID would know when you come back you're probably not 100 percent. For people that didn't [have COVID] and weren't able to practice or work out, I would think that's rust or other areas of that. The last thing is, it's a chemistry game, just like football. You can work out with quarterbacks and running backs all you want, until you work out with the line and the receivers—it's a timing game too. At the end of the day, you gotta make shots. And normally, when the legs go, it's hard to make threes ... That will all come, and we'll get back into that rhythm."

Baylor still leads the Big 12 and is in a great position for a top seed in the NCAA tournament. Next up for the Bears is a Tuesday road game against No. 10 West Virginia followed by games versus Oklahoma State and No. 18 Texas Tech to close out the regular season.

Baylor men's basketball coach Scott Drew announced the team's next two games (Feb. 6 vs. TCU, Feb. 10 at Oklahoma) have been postponed because of the Big 12's interruption guidelines.

The No. 2 Bears have reeled off a school-record-tying 17 straight wins to begin the 2020-21 campaign. Baylor, No. 1 Gonzaga and No. 25 Drake are the only remaining undefeated teams in the nation. 

The Bears have had seven games either postponed or canceled this season, including a nonconference showdown against Gonzaga. College basketball has been overrun with cancellations and postponements during the 2020-21 season as schools struggle to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

Baylor has navigated the chaos brilliantly, thanks to a cabal of veteran guards who have the Bears looking like a national championship favorite. Jared Butler leads the team with 17.0 points per game and is one of four Bears players averaging double figures (MaCio Teague, Davion Mitchell and Adam Flagler being the others).

Baylor does not disclose whether players test positive because of student privacy rules.

The Bears' next scheduled game is Feb. 13 against Texas Tech. 

As Baylor women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey explained Saturday, the only reason the 2020-21 season is taking place amid the COVID-19 pandemic is because of money. 

"The answer is this: The season will continue on. It's called the almighty dollar," Mulkey said, per Mechelle Voepel of ESPN.com. "The NCAA has to have the almighty dollar from the men's tournament. The almighty dollar is more important than the health and welfare of me, the players or anybody else."

Mulkey announced in early January she tested positive for COVID-19, and she was away from her team for several weeks before returning for Saturday's loss to Iowa State. Her Bears fell to 8-2 on the season but are currently ranked No. 6 in the country.

Even with the latest loss, which ended an NCAA-best streak of 61 straight home wins for Baylor, the squad is still one of the nation's best and has a chance to help Mulkey earn her fourth national championship.

"I'm uncomfortable coaching," she said Saturday. "I understand, COVID is real. I've had it—come talk to me sometime. But I don't know ... all the calls and procedures, that's gonna go on and make it unusual, uncomfortable for every program. We're no different at Baylor."

Mulkey is not the first coach to raise concerns about the 2020-21 season taking place amid the pandemic.

UConn head coach Geno Auriemma discussed in December the mental challenges for the players and staff.

"The ability to focus and concentrate on the task at hand has been very, very, very difficult," he said, per Voepel.

The Huskies are 7-0 on the season but have had four games canceled or postponed due to safety protocols.

Duke coach Kara Lawson was even more clear, saying, "I don’t think we should be playing right now. That’s my opinion on it."

The Blue Devils later opted out of the season.

While the NCAA remains on track to finish the year as scheduled, the governing body continues to face a lot of criticism from the biggest coaches in the sport.

Baylor announced that its men's basketball team has paused team activities because of COVID-19 protocols. In addition, matchups with No. 13 Texas on Sunday and Tarleton State on Tuesday have been postponed. The status for a Dec. 19 game with Kansas State is to be determined.

"This is a disappointing time for everyone involved with our program, but we will always prioritize the health and safety of our student-athletes," head coach Scott Drew said.

"The Big 12 Conference prepared for this possibility by leaving the final week of the regular season open, and we look forward to hosting Texas at a later date. Our program will return to competition as soon as we can do so safely."

The No. 2 Bears have started their season 4-0, winning their games by an average of 27 points.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected numerous Baylor sports teams' schedules this month. The football team's facility closed Thursday, and its game against Oklahoma State on Saturday was in question. However, the game went on as scheduled.

The men's hoops team was scheduled to play No. 1 Gonzaga on Dec. 5, but members of the Bulldogs' traveling party tested positive for COVID-19. That game has been postponed.

As of now, Baylor men's basketball's next scheduled game is Dec. 19 against KSU, but if that is not played, then the next one on the ledger is Dec. 21 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

The No. 2 team in the country picked up its first resume-boosting win Wednesday as the Baylor Bears defeated No. 5 Illinois, 82-69, during the Jimmy V Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The win sets up a No. 1 vs. No. 2 battle on Saturday as the Bears face top-ranked Gonzaga at 1 p.m. ET on CBS.

A 14-3 run over 2:30 midway through the second half proved to be the difference for Baylor as the Bears held on to a multiple-possession lead over the final six minutes.

That only became possible once Illini star Kofi Cockburn picked up his fourth foul with just under nine minutes to play, forcing head coach Brad Underwood to put his starting center on the bench against a Baylor team that boasts plenty of length. The Bears immediately went on a 9-0 run when Cockburn exited, knocking down six consecutive field goals to stretch the lead with time running out.

Underwood attempted to stem Baylor's offensive surge by putting Cockburn back on the floor with 6:35 to play, but the Illini were unable to cut back into the lead.

Notable Performers

Kofi Cockburn, C, Illinois Fighting Illini: 7 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block

Ayo Dosunmu, G, Illinois Fighting Illini: 18 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists

Giorgi Bezhanishvili, F, Illinois Fighting Illini: 15 points, 4 rebounds

Adam Flagler, G, Baylor Bears: 18 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists

Jared Butler, G, Baylor Bears: 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists

Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, F, Baylor Bears: 9 points, 9 rebounds

"We couldn't get the stop we needed," Underwood told reporters postgame. "... We would score and then they would come down and score. First half they didn't get any of those looks. Our young guys gotta understand, it's a fight."

It wasn't a much better night for Illinois' other key player, guard Ayo Dosunmu. Faced with weaving through Baylor's length, Dosunmu struggled to find his shot, going 6-of-18 from the field—including 1-of-6 in the first half.

Underwood said he doesn't expect his team to pull off many wins when its leading scorer slumps the way Dosunmu did Wednesday.

That doesn't make this a discouraging loss for Illinois so much as it shows Underwood more key areas to develop throughout the season. The Illini faced North Carolina A&T, Chicago State and Ohio in their first three games of the season and weren't exactly challenged in a way that forced the lineup to adapt.

Wednesday provided that opportunity with plenty more to come and soon.

Illinois will host UT-Martin on Saturday before traveling to North Carolina to face No. 6 Duke in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge as it looks to prove its own Top 10 credentials.

For Baylor, the stakes are a bit higher.

In a championship-or-bust season, the Bears passed the first major test on their schedule. They'll have just two full days to prepare for their next one against an even tougher opponent in Gonzaga. Aside from early season tournaments like the Maui Invitational, top programs rarely get this type of opportunity before March Madness kicks off.

If there's anything head coach Scott Drew still doesn't know about his team yet, he'll likely find out Saturday.

The Baylor men's basketball team will be without head coach Scott Drew for the start of the 2020-21 season after he announced Sunday that he tested positive for COVID-19.

Drew said the positive result is from Friday's teamwide testing but he is asymptomatic and self-isolating. He also said it was Baylor's first positive test in 12 weeks, so the season is still on as scheduled. The rest of the team tested negative Friday and Sunday.

Associate head coach Jerome Tang, who has been with Drew throughout his tenure at Baylor, will be the interim coach.

Baylor, which is No. 2 in the country in the initial Associated Press Top 25 rankings, is scheduled to start the season Wednesday against Arizona State. However, Jeff Goodman of Stadium reported the Sun Devils are pulling out of the matchup because of medical concerns with the Bears:

Drew is not the only notable figure in the sport impacted by the pandemic.

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo and Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim were among those who tested positive for COVID-19 leading up to the season. What's more, Seton Hall paused all team activities because of positive tests, while Goodman reported Florida is not expected to play its first two games of the season because of COVID-19.

Most notably, the Ivy League—which served as a harbinger of sorts for March Madness cancellations in the spring—canceled all winter sports for the 2020-21 season because of the pandemic.

Cancellations and postponements have become a weekly occurrence in college football this season, and there have already been a number of issues on the basketball side even before the opening tipoffs.

Drew has been at Baylor since the 2003-04 season and has a 344-213 record with eight NCAA tournament appearances and a Big 12 Coach of the Year award on his resume. The Bears went 26-4 last season and would have been a threat to make a deep tournament run if it wasn't canceled.